Having lost one America's great men of letters just last year (2007), this final volume of Vonnegut's thoughts and musings on early 21st century American life begs to be read by long-time fans and newcomers alike.
What people unfamiliar with Vonnegut's canon will discover is a subtle wit that barely disguises a more scathing critique for the follies of the powerful (the Bush administration is held in particular contempt), and a gentle soul pleading for a more compassionate future. That Vonnegut plainly states such a future is beyond our reach will sadden those who drew hope from his classic fiction, which he generously makes reference to throughout these sharp and unforgiving essays.
Vonnegut often said that his novels purposefully did not contain any villains--and indeed in books like "Slaughterhouse Five", "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater", and "Breakfast of Champions" the bad actions and decisions his characters make are traced directly to the weaknesses and hopeless circumstances of simply being human--but in "A Man Without A Country" Vonnegut clearly identifies and unleashes anger at real-life malcontents he says have destroyed his emotional connection to and affection for the country he fought for during World War Two. (Vonnegut re-visits his tale of surviving the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an event that eventually resulted in his most celebrated work, but also reveals it was an off-hand comment made by the wife of his fellow survivor and friend that allowed him to write about the incident in an honest manner.)
"A Man Without a Country" is a very honest book, but also a sad one. It reveals a brilliant and funny man left bitter and cynical near the end of his life, longing for the lost virtues of American heroes like Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln--the latter a man Vonnegut says was a better writer (citing the Gettysburg Address) than he or almost any other he can imagine, despite being a politician and not an author by trade.
This slim volume can be read in nearly one sitting, but you'll find yourself turning to it again and again for the force of its convictions, even as they point to a country that's lost its way and left so many on a morally wayward path.
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More attention needs to be paid to this debut novel. Absorbing from page 1 to its conclusion, "Last Last Chance" taps into the frightening reality of 21st Century America, tackling everything from drug addiction to biological terrorism and what instigates fear responses in individuals and large groups of people.
Despite the fact that the book's heroine, Lucy Clark, is confronting (or running from) a litany of personal problems that include her own and her mother's drug addictions, a broken heart, crippling depression, and the death by suicide of her father after his unstoppable super-plague virus is stolen from a lab--threatening to wipe out most of the human race--much of this novel is hilarious.
That's because Lucy narrates the tale with deadpan cynicism and wit, completely aware of her own faults and propensity to self-destruction, while bitingly revealing the absurdity of her fellow Americans who resort to mob mentality at the first sign of trouble.
Visits to a drug rehab ranch in the most desolate part of Texas and to a kind of "outward bound" right wing Christian-cult summer camp for kids are just two examples of the hilarious side trips Lucy takes from her home in New York City as the virus spreads around the country.
And while the book could have suffered from glibness in its portrayal of a hip woman dealing with drug problems, it doesn't shy from the terrible realities of dependence and there are moments of deeply moving introspection and confession from the characters afflicted.
But "Last Last Chance" is ultimately a novel completely of and about our times, revealing people desperate to love but afraid to do so, and a country running from itself from fears both imagined and--at times--all too real.
There are also ruminations on reincarnation, the inevitability of family histories, even Norse mythology.
"Last Last Chance" is infused with humor, compassion and fresh insight into modern human frailty. It will make you laugh in one moment and send a shiver down your spine the next, and will leave you eagerly awaiting the next work from this exciting young writer.
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